April 28, 2010

State Rep. Deb Mell presses colleagues to legalize civil unions

SPRINGFIELD --- State Rep. Deb Mell took to the floor of the Illinois House today to promote legalizing gay marriage in Illinois, but longstanding resistance to gay rights issues at the Capitol and election-year politics make approval unlikely.

“I am aware that our governor and many of you on both sides of the aisle
do not consider me equal to you and our relationship equal to the
relationships you share with your spouse,” Mell told her colleagues today. “I think we are more alike than we are
different.”

The remarks by Mell, the daughter of Chicago Ald. Richard Mell, 33rd, and sister of former Illinois first lady Patti Blagojevich, came after she publicly announced her engagement last night on a Chicago TV news program. Mell said she likely will go to Iowa to state her vows with Christin Baker, her partner of nearly six years. Baker was with Mell today as the lawmaker gave her speech.

Legislation to legalize civil unions passed a House committee nearly a year ago, but the sponsor, Rep. Greg Harris, D-Chicago, said today that he's still trying to muster up the 60 votes needed to send it to the Senate.

Illinois has been slow in approving gay rights measures --- it took more than 30 years to win approval of a law that outlaws discrimination against gays and lesbians by landlords, real estate agents, employers and lenders. Then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich, Mell’s brother-in-law, signed that bill in 2005.

Gov. Pat Quinn, who succeeded his former running mate Blagojevich as governor last year, voiced his support for civil unions today.

“I favor civil unions,” Quinn said. “I think that’s an issue that we could pass in Illinois, I hope, you know, soon.”

More important "things" than equality?? I don't think so. The opinion that equality in marriage is a frivolous topic is demeaning and typically one held by those who have never faced true inequality. There are currently more than one thousand basic rights and privileges afforded to straight married couples that same sex couples cannot access. “Privileges” such as health care, ER and intensive care visitation rights and adoption as equal parents.

All 50 aldermen on the Chicago City Council had to file paperwork earlier this year detailing their outside income and gifts. The Tribune took that ethics paperwork and posted the information here for you to see. You can search by ward number or alderman's last name.

The Cook County Assessor's office has put together lists of projected median property tax bills for all suburban towns and city neighborhoods. We've posted them for you to get a look at who's paying more and who's paying less.

Past posts

Clout has a special meaning in Chicago, where it can be a noun, a verb or an adjective. This exercise of political influence in a uniquely Chicago style was chronicled in the Tribune cartoon "Clout Street" in the early 1980s. Clout Street, the blog, offers an inside look at the politics practiced from Chicago's City Hall to the Statehouse in Springfield, through the eyes of the Tribune's political and government reporters.